ILOILO CITY – Only 57,787 tourists visited world-famous Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan from Sept. 1 to 15, a decrease of 23,787 compared to the 81,574 in the same period last month.
The Malay Tourism Office said bulk of the tourists who visited in the first half of this month was domestic with 50,697, followed by 5,613 foreign visitors and 1,477 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
This was the first time in several months that half-month figures have dropped after numbers in the pandemic have been steadily increasing.
In the same period in July, 87,920 tourists went to Boracay and from June 1 to 15, there were 97,766.
The decrease was attributed to the return of classes and the full-swing return of other businesses in the country.
Key insiders are hoping that tourist numbers in Boracay will pick up again this last quarter of the year.